Amicalola Falls

 March 24-25, 2025

Amicalola Falls State Park is in a remote area of northern Georgia. There are no towns in the immediate area. The park is about twenty miles east of Elijay and twenty miles west of Dahlonega. It took nearly ninety minutes to drive there from Sweetwater Campground on a variety of roads that skirted the mountains of this rolling terrain. That said, it is a well developed state park, managed by a concessionaire, Coral Hospitality. There is a large, well-maintained visitor center. The two roads in the park are short and are well constructed. The main road rises nearly 900 feet elevation in 1.5 miles. Most of the elevation change is along a one mile stretch, one of the steepest roads I have ever driven, with some parts 25% gradient. The campground and the lodge are near and at the top of the climb respectively. There is a parking lot at the topside approach to the actual falls, too.

Amicalola Falls is the third highest waterfall east of the Mississippi River. It runs 829 feet down, from a stream that appears to be rather small, less than five yards wide, but there is plenty of water to make the falls dramatic. At the top, there is a wooden walkway over the river. On one side of the bridge, the stream moves slowly towards the descent. On the other side, the water picks up speed as it drops over some rocks, then disappears in a fall of hundreds of feet.

The water does not drop the entire 829 feet in one fall. There are several tiers, the first few of which that have large magnitude, dropping hundreds of feet. After these first few sections, the falls continue to cascade less steeply for about a half mile before the water finally resumes the appearance of a normal river once again.

There is a trail that runs from the length of the falls. It is composed of a staircase in the steeper sections. The remainder of the trail is concrete, though in places it is still quite steep. The staircase is constructed with wood with the exception that all the steps are made of a metal grid to facilitate traction. There are about 425 steps down to a second walkway that crosses the falls. To one side of this bridge, one can look up to a view of the steeper sections of the falls with rockface cliffs hundreds of feet in height. On the downstream side, there is still plenty of descent of rushing water over the rocks. There are an additional 175 steps in the stairs that continue down to the concrete walkway. The walkway leads to a parking lot, with a dirt trail continuing down to the visitor center about a quarter mile farther. One can hike back to the top of the falls by backtracking or by taking the East Ridge Trail, a 1.5 mile trail in a wooded area.

The Amicalola Falls Trail has another important distinction. For many thru-hikers who do the Appalachian Trail south to north, their hike begins here, on the AT Approach Trail. It is an eight mile trail that begins under a stone archway at the visitor center and continues along the trail to the top of the waterfall. From there it continues to Springer Mountain to reach the actual start-finish of the AT.

I met a woman at the base of the falls who had a large backpack. I asked her what her plans were. She told me she was doing the whole thing, heading to Mount Katahdin in Maine. That is a 2,190 mile hike. I took a photo for her with the waterfall in the background. It was an amazing moment, being there when someone was at the beginning, on Day One along the first mile of the hike. She planned to reach Katahdin sometime in September, six months away, averaging about 12-13 miles per day.

I visited the mountains of Northern Georgia for the first time in Spring 2007. I did not visit Amicaloa Falls at that time. My purpose on that trip was to do some bike riding and camping along the route of a bike race that was taking place at the time, the Tour de Georgia. It was a seven day stage race covering about 650 miles across northern Georgia, with one brief foray into Tennessee for a hill climb time-trial.  I do not recall the actual campgrounds where I stayed.

I recall doing several rides on that trip, though I do not remember the actual roads. I followed the race route and did my rides in those areas, including the climb up Brasstown Bald. It is the highest point in the state, and it was the finish for Stage 5. I looked it up, and the final section of that climb is 2.9 miles at an 11.2% gradient.

I have noted on this trip that, on the majority of roads I have driven, the roads are narrow, there is very little shoulder, and there is usually an inverse rumble strip along the edge. These are indentations in the road to warn drivers they are going off the side. They are basically impossible to ride on, which in turn would mean riding my bike farther away from the miniscule shoulder that exists. This is not good for doing my bike rides!